Park University’s International Center for Music to Celebrate 10th Anniversary Concert Season

The International Center for Music at Park University will commemorate its 10th anniversary with artists from around the world during its 2013-14 concert season.

Highlighting the season will be a special concert on Friday, April 4, 2014, in memory of pianist and classical music legend Van Cliburn who passed away in February. The Van Cliburn Tribute Concert, which will be held in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., will feature 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch and his protégé and Uzbekistan compatriot Behzod Abduraimov, winner of the 2009 London International Music Competition. Ioudenitch currently serves as associate professor of music/piano and artistic director of the ICM, while Abduraimov, a rising star who has been compared to the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, is a senior applied music/piano major at Park. In addition, the Park Piano Trio — Ioudenitch; Lithuanian-Israeli violinist Ben Sayevich, professor of music/violin; and Czech cellist Daniel Veis, visiting assistant professor of music/cello, will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Trio in A Minor” in memory of Cliburn.

The ICM’s 2013-14 concert season opens on Saturday, Sept. 28 with a concert by Israeli violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi. Called a “genuine talent and profoundly gifted by the Vienna Express, Ashkenasi is scheduled to perform Dvo?ák’s “Romantic Pieces” and will be joined by ICM faculty for a performance of Mendelssohn’s “String Quintet No. 2.”

Acclaimed Spanish pianist Luis Fernando Perez, “among the most individual and gifted pianists of today’s generation” according to Gramophone magazine, will make his Kansas City area debut with a program of compositions by Granados and Albéniz on Saturday, Nov. 16.

Closing out the 2013 portion of the schedule will be the duo of Sayevich and his wife, Russian pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, on Saturday, Dec. 7. They will be featured in the rarely performed masterwork by Chausson, the “Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 21.”

Japanese cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi will open the 2014 segment of the concert season on Saturday, Feb. 1. Tsutsumi, who won the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in 1963, is known by cello students around the world as the cellist from the famous Suzuki CDs which accompany cello practice books.

The husband/wife duo of Veis and pianist Helena Veisova will perform in concert on Saturday, Feb. 15. They are scheduled to perform Martin?’s profound “Cello Sonata No. 1” and Franck’s popular “Sonata in A Major for Cello and Piano.”

The ICM 2013-14 concert season will come to a conclusion on Saturday, April 26, with the ICM’s Young Artist Showcase, a free concert highlighting the talents of International Center for Music’s students, as well as students of the Ioudenitch, Sayevich and Veis studios.

All concerts, except for the Van Cliburn Tribute Concert, will be held in Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on the University’s Parkville Campus, starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all concerts (except the Van Cliburn concert and Young Artist Showcase) are — general admission: $15 in advance, $20 at the door; senior citizens age 60 and older: $10; students with a valid student ID: $5; Park University students, faculty, staff and their children age 12 and under: free. Ticket prices for the Van Cliburn memorial concert will be announced at a later date. To purchase tickets in advance, visit www.park.edu/icm.

The International Center for Music at Park University trains and educates the next generation of accomplished musicians in a focused and creative atmosphere with an international faculty of renowned excellence. The focus of the Center is on piano and strings performance. Ingrid Stölzel is the director of the ICM. For more information about the International Center for Music, contact Stölzel at istolzel@park.edu or (816) 584-6484, or visit www.park.edu/icm.

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